Explosive with trinitrobenzene



United States Patent 7 Claims. 61. 149-92 The present invention relatesto a high explosive body and to a method of making the same.

The explosive mixtures which are used for producing .high explosivebodies consist usually of two components,

namely one explosive composition which has a relatively high meltingpoint and frequently does not melt without decomposition, while theother consists of one or more explosive compositions of lower meltingpoint and this other component serves in a larger or small proportion asthe melting component.

Cast bodies of such mixtures of explosive compositions are generallymade of mixtures of hexogen (cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine), octogen(cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine) or nitropenta(tetranitropentaerythritol) and trinitrotoluene, whereby the lastmentioned compound serves as the melting component. The reasons whynearly exclusively trinitrotoluene is used for producing castingmixtures can be found in its advantageous melting temperature of 808 C.and the fact that it can be safely handled. On the other hand, thedetonation speed of trinitrotoluene is only 6900 meters per second andthus, the detonation speed of the casting mixtures containingtrinitrotoluene will be considerably below that of hexogen ornitropenta.

It has also been proposed to compress pulverulent explosives with theaddition of a small amount of a melting component. Thus, for instancehexogen has been desensitized with between 10 'and 20% trinitrotolueneand the thus formed mixture has been compressed. In this manner a higherspeed of detonation is obtained as can be obtained with conventionalmixtures which have been compressed with the addition of wax. However,it is not possible in this manner to obtain the detonation speed of thepure compressed explosives. The density which can be obtained in thismanner deviates even stronger from the theoretically obtainable density,since the explosive compositions which are used for desensitizing, suchas trinitrotoluene are not as deformable as wax. Thus, a mixtureconsisting of 90% hexogen and 10% trinitrotoluene will result uponconventional compressing in an explosive body having a density whichwill be between and 8% below the theoretically obtainable maximumdensity.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the'above discussed disadvantages.

It is a further object of the present invention to produce aparticularly effective high explosive body which may be safely handledand which can be easily produced.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from a further reading of the description and of the appendedclaims.

With the above and other objects in view, the present inventioncontemplates a high explosive body consisting essentially of an intimatemixture of a first explosive ice composition and a second explosivecomposition, the second explosive composition being selected from thegroup consisting of (a) mixtures of between about and 90% by weighttrinitrobenzene and between about 30 and 10% by weight trinitro'toluene,and (12) mixtures of between about 20 and by weight of trinitrobenzeneand between about 80 and 20% by weight of tetryl, the first explosivecomposition having a significantly higher melting point than the secondexplosive composition.

The present invention is also concerned with a method of producing ahigh explosive body which comprises the steps of forming an intimatemixture of between and 98% by weight of a first explosive compositionselected from the group consisting of cyclotrim'ethylenetrini'tramine,cyclotetrame'thylenetetranitramine and tetranitropent'aerythritol andbetween 10 and 2% by weight of a second explosive composition selectedfrom the group consisting of (a) mixtures of between about 70 and 90% byweight trinitrobenzene and between about 30 and 10% by weighttrinitrotoluene, and (b) mixtures of between about 20 and 80% by weightof trinitrobenzene and between about 80% and 20% by weight of tetryl,subjecting the mixture to a partial vacuum, and compressing the thusevacuated mixture at the melting temperature of the second explosivecomposition so as to form a pressed high explosive body of the first andsecond explosive compositions.

According to another embodiment, the method of producing a highexplosive body according to the present invention comprises the steps offorming an intimate mixture of between 50 and 80% by weight of a firstexplosive composition selected from the group consisting ofcyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine andtetranitropentaerythritol and between 50 and 20% by weight of a secondexplosive composition selected from the group consisting of (a) mixturesof between about 70 and 90% by weight trinitrobenzene and between about30 and 10% by weight trinitrotoluene, and (b) mixtures of between about20 and 80% by weight of trinitrobenzene and between about 80% and 20% byweight of tetryl, and casting the thus formed mixture so as to formthereof a cast high explosive body.

It has thus been found that particularly effective high explosive bodieswhich may be safely hand-led and are easily produced in an economicalmanner, are obtained by using as the melting component a mixture whichcon sists essentially of between 70 and 90% trinitrobenzene and betweenabout 30 and 10% trinitrotoluene. All percentage figures in the presentspecification are percent by weight.

Another mixture which may be advantageously used as the meltingcomponent according to the present invention consists of about 2080%trinitrobenzene and between about 80 and 20% te't-ryl(trinitrophenyl-methyh nitramine).

Mixtures of between 20 and 80% trinitrobenzene and between 80 and 20%tetryl solidify below 100 C. and are at such temperatures fully stable.They have a detonation speed of between 7300 and 7500 meters per second.

When high explosive bodies are to be produced by Patented Sept. 6, 1966'3 octogen or nitropenta, the balance being the low melting mixturedescribed above, while in the case of cast high explosive bodies, thehigh melting component such as hexogen, octogen or nitropenta will formbetween about meters per second), although the proportion of the meltingcomponent is relatively high and consequently easy casting is assured.The new melting components can be utilized in all conventional castingmethods for ex- 50 and 80% of the explosive body and the balance 5plosives which are used 'for obtaining homogeneous will again be formedby one of the above described mixcastings, for instance also undervacuum. As a nontures of either trinitrobenzene and trinitrotoluene ornitromelting component, particularly hexogen, octogen and benzene andtetryl. nitropenta have been found to give very good results.

The utilization of the above described melting com- In addition to thedata given in the table, it was found ponent within the indicatedproportions will result in the that very good results are also obtainedby casting mixproduction of high explosive bodies of an effectivenesstures formed of between 20 and 50% of a mixture of or explosive yieldwhich up to now could not be achieved. about 7090% trinitrobenzene andbetween about 30 and The detonation speed which is obtained with thehigh 10% trinitrotoluene, with between 50 and 80% hexogen, explosivebodies according to the present invention is nitropenta or oct-ogen.approximately the same as that obtained with compressed Examples anddata for producing pressed high 'eX- pure hexogen or nitropenta. plosivebodies according to the present invention are Table 1 below describesthe pertinent data which are summarized in Table 2. V obtained with castbodies produced according to the The compressed charges of Table 2 firstsection are present invention, as compared with cast bodies propreparedas follows. duced according to the prior art of hexogen and trinitro- 30g. trinitrobenzene is intimately mixed with 10 g. l trinitrotoluene in aheatable copper vessel and heated to EXAMPLE about 90 C. until bothcomponents are completely molten; then the mass is allowed to cool downby perma- 50 g. trinitrobenzene is mixed with 50 g. tetryl with nentstirring. a rubber-coated stirrer in a heatable evacuable copper 10parts of this mixture are mixed with 90 parts of vessel. The mixture isheated in a steam bath until hexogen and the mass is heated to about 90C. This the mass is completely molten and the temperature is mixture isfilled into an evacuable matrix mm. diabout 95 C. 100 g. hexogen isadded in 3-4 portions ameter) which has previously been heated to 90 C.to the so prepared molten mass and the mixture is The press die isplaced on the mass and a compression stirred to a homogeneous mass, thetemperature being 30 of 1250 kg./cm. is effected. The pressure ismainkept at 95 C. Then the apparatus is evacuated by tained until thematrix has cooled down to 30-40 C. means of an oil pump and the vacuumis maintained for The so obtained compressed charge has a density of 15minutes at less than 1 mm. Hg. After the vacuum is 1.77 g./cm. Thedetonation velocity was found to be removed the mixture is cast at about95 C. in a cylindric 8350 m./sec.

Table 2 Explosive Mixture Press Press Air Detonation Power, Tempera-Pressure, Cooling Density Speed, kglcm. ture, C. mm. Hg n1./sec. SolidComponent Meltable Component 90%l1exogen 10% of a mixture oftrinitrobenzene- 1,200 90 10 Cooling under pressure"-.. 1. 77 8,350

trinitrotolueue 3:1. 95% hexogen" 5% of a mixture of trinitrobenzene 1,200 90 10 .do 1.78 9, 400

trinitrotoluene 3:1. 95% hexogen 5% o! a mixture of trinitrobenzene 1,200 90 10 Expelled while still warm.-. 1. 73 8, 300

trinitrotolu ne 3:1.

mold of 25 mm. diameter and allowed to cool. The The best explosivebodies are prepared according to so obtained explosive column detonatesat a velocity of the present invention by compressing the mixture of the8000 m./ sec. explosive components at a temperature at which the lowerTable I melting component is completely or partially molten and,preferably, compression of the mixture is carried out impactsensj. undera partial vacuum. Surprisingly it has been found was... attests. artist,imitat the e 1e peeeele m the w e eelefively. very 10 g mim smallproportion of the lower melting component in the ex losive mixture toproduce homogeneous and mechani- 50% hexogen cally resistance highexplosive bodies. The density of the @823 570 i thus produced highexplosive body is only slightly be- 40% trinitrotoluene e660 as low thetheoretically possible maximum density and this 22;: gfiffifigg g- 8,000435 06 is achieved by carrying out the compression under a 25% tetrylpartial vacuum, in other words, to subject the mixture to ggZ l f 8,200445 as subatmosplreric pressure, for instance of 10 millimeter m r ryand to maintain this subatmospheric pressure 66.7% hexogen 20.0%trinitorbenzena} 8,250 450 0.0 d thus a very low gas content during thecompressing fi g of the mixture. 133% trinit rob enzer la} 8,300 455 0.6The method of producing pressed high explosive bodies gg yofiiietlrggnmaccording to the present invention can be carried out 2472trinitroben'ziiif 8,000 450 0.4 for instance by placing the press moldand the explosive 16% tetryl mixture into a Warming cabinet so that themold as Well 1 I as the mixture will be heated up to a temperature atExploswsmfie Barthe Mannheim) 1958 which the lower melting component ofthe explosive mix- It will be seen that the cast mixtures which includeture will be liquefied. Thereafter, the mold and the exthe meltingcomponent or mixture according to the plosive mixture are quicklyintroduced into the press, present invention will give a detonationspeed of up to evaporated and thereafter the mixture is compressed. 8300meters per second, i.e. values which are close to The press molds arepreferably fitted with rubber rings those obtained with pure hexogen andnitropenta (8400 of circular cross section or other suitable packingsand are formed with a conduit for evacuating the interior of the pressmold.

In order to obtain pressed bodies which conform fully to the shape ofthe mold, it is preferred to maintain the mold under pressure until themolten component of the explosive composition is again solidified, or toresiliently lock the mold after the same has been subjected to pressure,then to remove the locked mold, the interior of which is thus continuedto be maintained under pressure, from the press and allow cooling off ofthe contents to take place outside of the press.

Although it is preferred, and the b'est results are achieved when thepressed body is maintained in the mold under compression until it iscompletely solidified, nevertheless, it is also possible to obtain thedesired effect of increasing density and detonation speed when thepressed body is removed from the mold before the molten component of thebody has been fully solidified.

Carrying out the method of the present invention is facilitated by usingheatable press molds. For instance, the press molds may be heatedelectrically however, it is more desirable to provide the press formwith conduits through which a heating fluid may pass.

Another manner in which the production of pressed high explosive bodiesaccording to the present invention could be speeded up consists in theuse of press forms which have a hot and a cold zone which can beachieved easily by passing heating and cooling liquids, respectivelythrough the respective zones of the press mold. In this case, thepreheated mixture is introduced into the hot or warm zone of the pressmold, and compressed therein. Thereafter, the sleeve portion of the moldis moved relative to the press punch in such a manner that the pressedbody may then be solidified while being located in the cold zone of thepress.

By carrying out the warm pressing method of the present invention undera partial vacuum, for instance of a residual pressure of mm. mercury,densities of the pressed body are obtainable which are only about 1%below the theoretically possible maximum density. The thus producedpressed bodies, depending on their composition, possess detonationspeeds which are higher than those of pressed bodies formed of pure highexplosive compositions.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A high explosive body consisting essentially of an intimate mixtureof a first explosive composition and a second explosive composition,said second explosive composition being selected from the groupconsisting of (a) mixtures of between about 70 and 90% by weighttrinitrobenzene and between about 30 and 10% by weight trinitrotoluene,and (b) mixtures of between about and 80% by weight of trinitrobenzeneand between about 80 and 20% by weight of tetryl, said first explosivecomposition having a significantly higher melting point than said secondexplosive composition.

2. A high explosive body consisting essentially of an intimate mixtureof a first explosive composition selected from the group consisting ofcyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, cy-clotetramethylenetetranitramine andtetranitropentaerythritol, and a second explosive composition, saidsecond explosive composition being selected from the group consisting of(a) mixtures of between about 70 and 90% by weight trinitrobenzene andbetween about and 10% by weight trinitrotoluene, and (b) mixtures ofbetween about 20 and by weight of trinitrobenzene and between about 80and 20% by Weight of tetryl, said first explosive composition having asignificantly higher melting point than said second explosivecomposition.

3. A pressed high explosive body consisting essentially of an intimatemixture of between and 98% by weight of a .first explosive compositionselected from the group consisting of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine,cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine and tetranitropentaerythritol, andbetween 10 and 2% by weight of a second explosive composition, saidsecond explosive composition being selected from the group consisting of(a) mixtures of between about 70 and 90% by weight trinitrobenzene andbetween about 30 and 10% by weight trinitrotoluene, and (b) mixtures ofbetween about 20 and 80% by weight of weight of trinitrobenzene andbetween about 80 and 20% by weight of tetryl, said first explosivecomposition having a significantly higher melting point than said secondexplosive composition.

4. A cast high explosive body consisting essentially of an intimatemixture of between 50 and 80% by weight of a first explosive compositionselected from the group consisting of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine,cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine and tetranitropentaerythriol, andbetween 50 and 20% by weight of a second explosive composition, saidsecond explosive composition being selected from the group consisting of(a) mixtures of between about 70 and 90% by weight trinitrobenzene andbetween about 30 and 10% by weight trinitrotoluene, and (b) mixtures ofbetween about 20 and 80% by weight of trinitrobenzene and between about80 and 20% by weight of tetryl, said first explosive composition havinga significantly higher melting point than said second explosivecomposition.

5. A method of producing a high explosive body comprising the steps offorming an intimate mixture of between 90 and 98% by weight of a firstexplosive composition selected from the group consisting ofcyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine andtetranitropentaerythritol and between 10 and 2% by weight of a secondexplosive composition selected from the group consisting of (a) mixturesof between about 70 and 90% by weight of trinitrobenzene and betweenabout 30 and 10% by weight trinitrotoluene, and (b) mixtures of betweenabout 20 and 80% by weight of trinitrobenzene and between about 80 and20% by weight of tetryl; subjecting said mixture to a partial vacuum;and compressing the thus evacuated mixture at the melting temperature ofsaid second explosive composition so as to form a pressed high explosivebody of said first and second explosive compositions.

6. A method of producing a high explosive body comprising the steps offorming an intimate mixture of be tween 50 and 80% by weight of a firstexplosive composition selected from the group consisting ofcyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine andtetranitropentaerythritol and between 50 and 20% by weight of a secondexplosive composition selected from the group consisting of (a) mixturesof between about 70 and 90% by weight trinitrobenzene and between about30 and 10% by weight trinitrotoluene, and (b) mixtures of between about20 and 80% by weight of trinitrobenzene and between about 80% and 20% byweight of tetryl; and casting the thus formed mixture so as to formthereof a cast high explosive body.

7. A method of producing a high explosive body comprising the steps offorming an intimate mixture of between 90 and 98% by weight of a firstexplosive composition selected from the group consisting ofcyclotrimethylene trinitramine, cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine andtetranitropentaerythritol and between 10 and 2% by weight of a secondexplosive composition selected from 7 the group consisting of (a)mixtures of between about 70 and 90% by weight trinitrobenzene andbetween about 30 and 10% by weight trinitrotoluene, and (b) mixtures ofbetween about 20 and 80% by weight of trinitrobenzene and between about80 and 20% by weight of tetryl; subjecting said mixture to asubatmospheric pressure of about 10 mm. mercury; and compressing thethus evacuated mixture at a pressure of about 1,200 kg./cm. and at atemperature at which at least a portion of said sec- 8 to form a pressedhigh explosive body of said first and second explosive compositions.

References Cited by the Examiner Bebie, 1.: Manual ofExplosives-Military Pyrotechnics and Chemical Warfare Agents, MacmillanCo., N.Y., 1943 (p. 152).

BENJAMIN R. PADGETT, Acting Primary Examiner.

0nd explosive composition will be in molten state so as 10 S. J.LECHERT, Assistant Examiner.

1. A LHIGH EXPLOSIVE BODY CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF AN INTIMATED MIXTUREOF A FIRST EXPOSIVE COMPOSITION AND A SECOND EXPLOSIVE COMPOSITION, SAIDSECOND EXPLOSIVE COMPOSITION BEING SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF(A) MIXTURES OF BETWEEN ABOUT 70 AND 90% BY WEIGHT TRINITROBENZENE ANDBETWEEN ABOUT 30 AND 10% BY WEIGHT TRINITROTOLUENE, AND (B) MIXTURES OFBETWEEN ABOUT 20 AND 80% BY WEIGHT OF TRINITROBENZENE AND BETWEEN ABOUT80 AND 20% BY WEIGHT OF TETRYL, SAID FIRST EXPLOSIVE COMPOSITION HAVINGA SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER MELTING POINT THAN AND SECOND EXPLOSIVECOMPOSITION.